“You have one or two more weeks, and then you’re gone” - Inter Miami star shares teammates’ reaction after he surpasses Lionel Messi in club record
Inter Miami forward Leonardo Campana has beaten Lionel Messi to the club's all-time top scorer mark. The 24-year-old achieved the landmark by scoring his 30th goal for the Herons in their midweek 2-2 MLS draw at Atlanta United.
Tata Martino's side led twice in the game - first through David Ruiz (29') and then through Campana (59') - but Aleksei Miranchuk bagged an 84th-minute equaliser for Atlanta to force a share of the spoils.
Messi, who has missed large swathes of the season due to injury, is only three behind Campana in the club's all-time scoring charts. The Ecuardorean knows that it's only a matter of time before Messi takes the record, saying after the game:
“Sincerely, it’s funny because with my teammates after the game, we joke, and they told me, ‘Hey, enjoy it because you have one or two more weeks, and then you're gone.'"
Campana is now one clear of the retired Gonzalo Higuain (29) in the club's scoring charts, with Messi on 27 and his former Barcelona teammate Luis Suarez - playing his first season with the Herons - in fourth.
“Right now, this was my week," Campana added. "Hopefully, I can keep scoring and I can keep doing better, but obviously they're coming fast.”
Both Messi and Suarez came off the bench in the aforementioned draw with Atalanta.
How has Lionel Messi fared for Inter Miami this season?
Inter Miami captain Lionel Messi has had an injury-plagued season. Following the 2024 Copa America final - where Argentina beat Colombia 1-0 in extra time in the final - Messi was sidelined for nearly two months with an ankle injury.
The 37-year-old returned to action for the Herons in their 3-1 MLS home win over Philadelphia Union last weekend, scoring twice and assisting once. He now has 16 goals and 12 assists in 17 games across competitions for Tata Martino's side for the season.
Most of those goal contributions - 14 goals and 10 assists in 14 games - have come in MLS - where the Herons are eight points clear atop the Eastern Conference after 29 games.
The 2022 FIFA World Cup winner's two other goals and as many assists - in three games - for the Herons this season have come in the CONCACAF Champions Cup. Tata Martino's side exited the competition following a 5-2 aggregate defeat to Monterrey in the quarter-finals.